The Teutonic Order used Königsberg to fortify their conquests in Samland and as a base for campaigns against pagan Lithuania. Under siege during the Prussian uprisings in —63, Königsberg Castle was relieved by the Master of the Livonian Order.

This new settlement, Altstadt , received Culm rights in Löbenicht , a new town directly east of Altstadt between the Pregel and the Schlossteich , received its own rights in Medieval Königsberg's third town was Kneiphof , which received town rights in and was located on an island of the same name in the Pregel south of Altstadt.

Within the state of the Teutonic Order , Königsberg was the residence of the marshal, one of the chief administrators of the military order.

Adalbert of Prague became the main patron saint of Königsberg Cathedral , a landmark of the city located in Kneiphof. Königsberg joined the Hanseatic League in and developed into an important port for the south-eastern Baltic region, trading goods throughout Prussia, the Kingdom of Poland , and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The chronicler Peter of Dusburg probably wrote his Chronicon terrae Prussiae in Königsberg from — Although the knights suffered a crippling defeat in the Battle of Grunwald Tannenberg , Königsberg remained under the control of the Teutonic Knights throughout the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War.

While Königsberg's three towns initially joined the rebellion, Altstadt and Löbenicht soon rejoined the Teutonic Knights and defeated Kneiphof in Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen fled from the crusaders' capital at Castle Marienburg to Königsberg in ; the city's magistrate presented Erlichshausen with a barrel of beer out of compassion.

While the Prussian estates quickly allied with the duke, the Prussian peasantry would only swear allegiance to Albert in person at Königsberg, seeking the duke's support against oppressive nobility.

After convincing the rebels to lay down their arms, Albert had several of their leaders executed. Königsberg, the capital, became one of the biggest cities and ports of ducal Prussia, having considerable autonomy, a separate parliament and currency.

While German served as the fief's official language, the city served as a vibrant center of publishing in both the Polish and Lithuanian Languages.

The city flourished through the export of wheat , timber , hemp , and furs , [20] as well as pitch , tar , and ash. The university had a profound impact on the development of Lithuanian culture, and several important Lithuanian writers attended the Albertina.

The university was also the preferred educational institution of the Baltic German nobility. The capable Duke Albert was succeeded by his feeble minded son, Albert Frederick.

In the Treaty of Wehlau in , however, he negotiated the release of Prussia from Polish sovereignty in return for an alliance with Poland.

In Frederick William informed the Prussian diet that he possessed jus supremi et absoluti domini , and that the Prussian Landtag could convene with his permission.

The Prussian estates which swore fealty to Frederick William in Königsberg on 18 October [26] refused the elector's requests for military funding, and Colonel Christian Ludwig von Kalckstein sought assistance from neighbouring Poland.

After the elector's agents had abducted Kalckstein, he was executed in The Prussian estates' submission to Frederick William followed; in and the elector received taxes not granted by the estates and Königsberg received a garrison without the estates' consent.

Königsberg long remained a centre of Lutheran resistance to Calvinism within Brandenburg-Prussia ; Frederick William forced the city to accept Calvinist citizens and property-holders in Since "Kingdom of Prussia" was increasingly used to designate all of the Hohenzollern lands, former ducal Prussia became known as the Province of Prussia — , with Königsberg as its capital.

However, Berlin and Potsdam in Brandenburg were the main residences of the Prussian kings. The city was wracked by plague and other illnesses from September to April , losing 9, people, or roughly a quarter of its populace.

Suburbs that subsequently were annexed to Königsberg include Sackheim, Rossgarten, and Tragheim. With the end of the Seven Years' War the Russian army abandoned the town in After the First Partition of Poland in , Königsberg became the capital of the province of East Prussia in , which replaced the Province of Prussia in By the city was approximately five miles 8.

In order to foster liberalism and nationalism among the Prussian middle class, the "League of Virtue" was founded in Königsberg in April The French forced its dissolution in December , but its ideals were continued by the Turnbewegung of Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in Berlin.

In Königsberg had a population of 63, It was also the seat of the Regierungsbezirk Königsberg , an administrative subdivision.

Led by the provincial president Theodor von Schön and the Königsberger Volkszeitung newspaper, Königsberg was a stronghold of liberalism against the conservative government of King Frederick William IV.

A sophisticated for its time series of fortifications around the city that included fifteen forts was completed in In the railway connecting Berlin with St.

The completion of a canal to Pillau in increased the trade of Russian grain in Königsberg, but, like much of eastern Germany, the city's economy was generally in decline.

Königsberg and East Prussia , however, were separated from the rest of Weimar Germany by the creation of the Polish Corridor.

In the s Nazis confiscated Jewish shops and, as in the rest of Germany, a public book burning was organised, accompanied by anti-Semitic speeches in May at the Trommelplatz square.

Street names and monuments of Jewish origin were removed, and signs such as "Jews are not welcomed in hotels" started appearing. As part of the state-wide "aryanisation" of the civil service Jewish academics were ejected from the university.

In the local paramilitary SA had already started to terrorise their political opponents. In July Adolf Hitler made a speech in the city, gathering 25, supporters.

The Otto-Braun-House was requisitioned and became the headquarters of the SA, which used the house to imprison and torture opponents.

Walter Schütz , a communist member of the Reichstag , was murdered here. Under Nazi rule, the Polish and Jewish minorities were classified as Untermensch and persecuted by the authorities.

The city's Jewish population shrank from 3, in to 2, in October The New Synagogue of Königsberg , constructed in , was destroyed during Kristallnacht 9 November ; Jews soon fled the city.

In September , with the German invasion against Poland under way, the Polish consulate in Königsberg was attacked which constituted a violation of international law , its workers arrested and sent to concentration camps where several of them died.

In September 69, slave labourers were registered in the city not counting prisoners of war , with most of them working on the outskirts; within the city were 15, slave labourers.

Ordered to paint German ships with toxic paints and chemicals, they were neither given gas-masks nor was there any ventilation in facilities where they worked, supposedly in order to expedite construction, while the substances evaporated in temperatures as low as 40 Celsius.

As a result, there were cases of sudden illness or death during the work. In , Königsberg suffered heavy damage from British bombing attacks and burned for several days.

For example after the Scottish independence referendum, , the then Prime Minister, David Cameron , claimed that Elizabeth was pleased with the outcome Dominiczak, Peter 24 September I'm extremely sorry for saying Queen 'purred' over Scottish Independence vote".

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